- [Brett] Hey, and welcome to another episodeof Marketing Tips.I'm Brett Batesole and this week, I want to encourage youto consider learning SQL as a new skill.SQL stands for Structured Query Language.Simply put, it's a basic programming languagethat's used to retrieve data from databases.Now as marketers, we're curious.It's part of our responsibility to ask lots of questions.And most of these questions require data to answer,and that data tends to be locked away into a database.

The faster you can get to that data,the faster you can adjust your marketing objectives.And this data-driven marketing mindsetdelivers far better results.And not only that, but data analysis skillsare incredibly in demand, more and more job requirementsfor marketers, are starting to list SQL.So, to retrieve data out of a database,you'll typically use what's known as an SQL query.And this lets you outlinewhat information you want and from where.

Let's say we have these questions.We want to know what percentageof our users logged in last week.Or how many users visited once, but have not returned.Or even, who your top ten active users are.This data is likely not in Google Analytics,but instead in your database.So you'll want to create a querythat asks the database for that answer.And here's an example of a basic query.You're essentially going to say"I want to get this piece of data"from this table, where the data matches these criteria."Now it's actually not incredibly difficultto learn the basics of how to get that data.

And even if you're going to be usingan existing reporting interface, such as Tableau or Cluvio,knowing how it works under the hoodcan greatly improve your expertiseor even your ability to expand that data further.Now, even though I'm fairly proficient at SQL,I'm not going to pretend that I'm ready to teach it.I've still got plenty of learning to do myself.So I want to point you towards the courseSQL for Data Reporting and Analysis.This course is a great place to learnhow to get the information you need,without having to go too deepon everything there is to know about SQL.

You can also check out the LinkedIn topic page for SQL,at linkedin.com/topic/sql.Here you can engage with others who have this skill,or identify learning paths and posts related to this topic.I highly recommend that you take some time to explore SQL.Maybe schedule time to sit downwith the developer on your team,who can secure you read-only access to your databaseand then get you set up with a client,that'll allow you to start playing aroundwith your own SQL queries.

Thanks for checking in this week.As always, I'd love to hear from you.So connect with me on LinkedInor follow me on Twitter via @bradbatesole.And let me know if you're thinking about learning SQL.I'll see ya next week.

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Author

Updated

1/31/2019

Released

10/3/2018

The marketing world moves fast. Stay up to date with the latest tools and techniques in this weekly series from expert Brad Batesole. Every week you get a new, actionable tip to help you build community, start conversations with customers, boost sales, track engagement, measure analytics, and leverage social media tools to grow your brand. You can also learn a few tricks to make your work a little bit easier and a little more creative, too. In addition to sharing from his bank of experience, Brad will answer questions submitted by members. Submit your question using our feedback button and you might just see it in a future episode! Tune in every week to keep your marketing efforts fresh.

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